When the Sun Falls
by NobleBrokenBeauty
Summary: Life has rules. Life isn't fair, everybody dies, and people don't change. But Artemis Crock never listened to the rules.


Artemis had forgotten how it felt to be alone. Those five years had erased the memories, the constant fending for herself, the acceptance that the next morning nothing would be any better. And it had become too familiar again too quickly.

It had been two weeks to the day since the death of Wally West.

Artemis lay face up in bed, wrapped in the covers, shielding herself from what she knew, in the end, she couldn't fend off. The one thing she couldn't do. The one thing. She'd been staying at the Wests. She sure as hell wasn't going to go home. Everyone else had thrown themselves back into their missions.

But for once, she couldn't do that.

He haunted this room. Their togetherness haunted this room. She wouldn't have known what to do with herself if she had stayed in their apartment. But even here, where he grew up, seemed just as wrong.

Everything was at a tilt, just a little out of place. Artemis sat up and gathered her hair back. The pictures on the wall were all she had left. The pictures, and a voice mail he had left her the day before he died of a joke he had made that she had glared at him for, sending him into a fit of laughter. He'd called her with the same joke just to annoy her again, cackling as he hung up the phone.

He haunted her.

Artemis hunched over and sobbed, a daily morning routine.

Mrs. West knew, and understood, and probably had a similar morning. She knocked on the door all the same at 8:30.

"Artemis, dear, breakfast is ready, if you're up," Mrs. West said, in that same defeated tone. Artemis brushed her bare arms across her face, breathing in a slow, shaky breath.

"Thanks, Mrs. West. I'll be out soon."

The woman tiptoed away on unsure feet. Artemis stood and stretched, her lean muscles warming up, readying for a mission that she knew she wasn't going to go on. She slid toward the door and opened it a crack, listening for the morning news.

"Today, the whole world is celebrating together the triumph over the alien race of the Reach."

But Iris' voice wasn't so triumphant. Artemis stood there and listened, heart pounding.

"We have the efforts and sacrifices of the Justice League to thank for today and all of the days of freedom and life ahead of us."

But that was all she could say. The world didn't know of Kid Flash's death. To them, Kid Flash had not died. To them, the supers always saved the day for the sake of mankind, no matter the cost. The citizens never really saw what went behind the cost… nor did they ever really care.

"You're not going to hear it, if that's what you're listening for, my girl," Mr. West said. Artemis looked down the hall in the other direction to see him standing there, in his robe and slippers. She nudged the door open a little more.

"I know. But… _Iris_…" Artemis said, gesturing weakly at the television. Mr. West led her out of her room. They didn't say anything for a while.

Mr. West's voice was muddled when he finally spoke. "She's told what to say. You know she wants to. But she can't. Can't bring personal things into her work to broadcast to the city."

Artemis took a spot at the table, settling into the chair. She stared at the screen as it flicked away from Iris, back to the preparations around the United States for the Fourth of July. Mrs. West loaded the table with blueberries and strawberries and pancakes.

"Happy… happy Independence Day, you two!" Mrs. West greeted them as she sat down too. Her eyes glimmered, forcing a smile onto her wisened face. Artemis hated those words. They always meant anniversary to the originals.

"Happy fourth," she replied. She hoped her smile didn't look like an awful grimace.

"What were your plans today, Artemis?" Mrs. West asked, handing her the spoon for the strawberries. "Rudolph and I were going to go to a barbeque across the street, and you're more than welcome to join us."

The two watched her expectantly. Artemis poked at her fruit, blocking it all out.

"I was actually just going to stay inside today to look for internships and jobs. If that's all right."

She could feel Mrs. West deflate beside her. Mr. West distracted himself with the morning's paper, shifting in his chair.

"Of course it's all right, Artemis. Let-let us know if you need anything."

The silence was excruciating. They were waiting for someone to make a joke, stuff their face with four pancakes at once, and then spray a majority of that all over the table. They had been disgusted by it when it actually happened, but now it was just so empty.

She wanted him to wink at her from the other side of the table, give her a smirk, and call her babe.

Artemis suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. Artemis stood, causing the Wests to jump the slightest bit.

"Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. West. I hope you both have a wonderful Fourth of July."

She froze for half a second, in a panic, and locked herself back in the guest room. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes, breathing in and out, counting down to release her grief. She slid to a stop with her head tucked between her knees.

Artemis Crock should have been too strong for this, but there were times to be strong, and this most definitely wasn't one of them.

Artemis' cell phone buzzed on her bedside table. She crawled over and decided to give the caller a chance.

"Hey, Dick," she said, curling up against her bed.

"Hey, Artemis."

The two of them were quiet for a while. They hadn't spoken since Wally's death.

"I thought maybe you'd like to meet me for lunch. Maybe get out of the house today."

"Aren't you in Gotham?" she asked. She sat up, eyeing what was left of her clean clothing.

"Nope."

"You're not in Blüdhaven?"

"No."

Artemis switched her phone to the other ear and tucked it between her cheek and shoulder. Artemis rifled through her suitcase, trying to find either a clean shirt or one that didn't smell like Wally. "…you're in Central City, aren't you?"

"There's a café downtown, if you want to meet me there."

"Isn't it a little early for lunch?"

"Don't you want to get out of the house?" he repeated.

"I'd rather not be reminded that it's the Fourth of July."

"I'm just here to talk to you. It'll be better than cooping yourself up inside all day. I promise."

Artemis sighed. "What time?"

She hadn't heard anything better than his small laugh all week.

"Let's say 11. At Carmine's. I'll see you then."

He hung up. That was that. Artemis plucked a shirt and pants from the wreck of a pile and darted for the shower.

She hadn't spoken to anyone from the Team. Artemis needed her space, and they understood that. She still wasn't sure if she would return, but that was a decision for another time.

She tried to remember what Dick sounded like on the phone. His tone was different, but at the same time, completely unsuspecting. And that was the worst. She couldn't begin to imagine what it was he wanted to talk to her about, something obviously so important that he had to fly out here to tell her in person.

She drove into Central City, circling around before she found the café. A statue to the Flash stood out in the middle of a square, hands fisted firmly on his hips. Artemis averted her gaze and searched for a parking spot.

Dick sat there in front of the café in a black sweatshirt and jeans, as if it wasn't the middle of summer. If he hadn't been wearing those sunglasses, she could have mistaken him for Conner.

"Been keeping tabs on me, Grayson?" she called out, slamming the door. He stood right when he saw her, managing a smile.

"Sort of. Been checking up on everyone, really."

Artemis paused. "Of course you have," she breathed, but greeted him with the best smile she could muster.

"I just wanted to make sure everything was going as…"

There was no fitting end to that sentence. It hung in the air between them, stuck between their locked gazes.

"Everything is going, I can guarantee that," Artemis said, swooping in to save them from the pity. "But that wasn't the only thing you're here for. I know that much."

"Yeah…" Dick said, his sunglasses flashing as they moved left and right. The restaurant was busy, and Artemis quickly caught the attention of a waiter to order. She still wasn't hungry – she couldn't say she had been in exactly that long – but she ordered a drink to fend off the heat of the day.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Artemis said, settling in. She shook her hair out and waited for something at least moderately important to happen. The waiter set her iced coffee on the table in front of her and walked away. Dick surrounded his water glass with two hands.

"I've decided to resign."

Artemis tugged the glass away from her face before she choked.

"What?" she yelled, stirring the attention of the other restaurant-goers. Appeasing them with a sweet smile, Artemis whipped her head back to Dick. "You can't be serious. Not now."

"No, I need a break from the Team. The Team… needs a break from me."

"The Team can't lose another member so quickly!" Artemis snapped, resisting from slamming a hand down on the rickety table.

"You haven't gone back yet," he retorted. Artemis' spine slammed straight.

"I'm _different_," she hissed.

Dick just raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"

Artemis' jaw worked with no sound.

"Wally and I were best friends for years. And I'll always remember him like that." A suave, gentle undercurrent swam under his voice, but it made Artemis' skin crawl.

"So you're just going to give up, after everything that's happened. That's the conclusion you've reached," Artemis said, staring at him, hands jerking in opposite directions to try and emphasize her point. Those sunglasses glared back at her, emotionless and unblinking. She felt a sudden urge to rip them off his face, so she could maybe see that there was a glimmer of emotion, a hint of regret. But she didn't. Artemis sat there and fumed, her hands clasped in her lap, her ponytail brushing the back of her neck. Dick shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"I'm resigning. Not giving up. Not completely." Artemis just shook her head and sat back, unable to believe it. "The team… doesn't need me right now. Doesn't need me, period. I'm stepping away so we can both regain our balance."

Artemis closed her eyes and collected her thoughts, but she only needed a few seconds.

"No, you're _leaving_, you _coward_. You're afraid you're going to make the same idiotic mistakes again and another one of us is going to end up _dead_."

This time she saw him flinch.

"I wasn't on Omega with him, was I?!" Dick shot back. The shock, the brutal terror that came with those words froze the air between them before Artemis realized exactly what he had said – before Dick realized exactly what he had said.

Artemis jumped from her seat, the metal chair shrieking against the concrete.

"_You_ weren't undercover for the past three months. You didn't risk your life at all. You sat up in your little high post and ordered everyone else to do your _bidding_!" The words were cold and cut and whispered, but aimed so precisely. Dick clenched his jaw.

"I only got one more day with him."

Her voice didn't crack. She lifted her chin into the air higher, but she wasn't even sure if he was watching her. His arrogance bolstered her confidence.

"You didn't deserve him. You didn't deserve his friendship. You didn't deserve to know him."

She scoffed at him, shaking her head.

"Have a nice life. Hope it's a peaceful one. Don't kill anyone else while you're at it."

Artemis tossed her money down on the table and walked away.

She watched him in the rear view mirror. He didn't move, just sat there hunched over, clasping a cold, empty glass. She thought she saw him adjust his sunglasses, but she looked away before anyone could be sure.

The West house was empty when she returned, but that gave her all the more time to dig through the closet to find the orange jumpsuit buried away. She suited up again, unconsciously reached toward her neck for the Glamour Charm. Her heart froze for a second before she remembered that she didn't need it.

Dick had made the decision for her.

She undressed, folded up the suit, and placed the orange mask on top of her outfit.

She'd leave in an hour.

* * *

A/N: Not going to lie, this was painful. Not going to accept it, but we've gotta do what we've gotta do. More to come soon! Please review :)


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